Mr. Fish discovered when too late that he had married a child, and soon became indifferent to his home and family. He left Rochester under a pretence of going on business to the West. The next I heard of him was that he had married a rich widow in the State of Illinois.
As he had left little means for the support of myself and child, I turned my attention to teaching music. I had many friends who assisted me in getting pupils, and I was delighted to find myself entirely independent. One day (early in May, 1848), I was at the house of Mr. Little, enjoying myself with the young ladies, when Mrs. Little came in with the proof-sheet of a pamphlet issued by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of Canandaigua, N. Y. Mrs. Little knew my maiden name was Fox; that my parents (at the time) were in Arcadia, Wayne County, N. Y., and concluded I must be the daughter of John D. Fox. She then introduced the printer, and he commenced questioning me about my family relations. He said, “Is your mother’s name Margaret? Have you a brother David?” I replied, yes. I began to be startled by his questions, and said, “For mercy’s sake, what has happened?” He answered by placing the proof-sheet in my hands, which gave me the first idea I ever had of the manifestations which had been taking place at the dwelling of our family in Hydesville. I read it, and cried over it. I knew not what to think, but I said to them all, “If my father, mother, and brother David have certified to such a statement, it is true.” All who heard me thus declare believed it, and never wavered for a moment. As soon as I could collect my thoughts, I called on Mrs. Granger and Mrs. Grover, old friends of mine and of our family, and related to them the account which I had read in the proof-sheet.
I told them I should take the night boat for Newark, Wayne County. I would visit my family, and learn for myself about the mysterious affair. They concluded to go with me. We were, at that time, obliged to travel by the Erie Canal packet-boat, as the direct railroad between Syracuse and Rochester had not yet been built. It took a few hours longer then than now to make that journey. When we arrived at Hydesville, which is about two miles from our old homestead, we found the house deserted. My brother had persuaded the family to leave the old “haunted house,” and live with him until their new house was finished.
We drove to brother David’s, where we found mother completely broken down by the recent events. She never smiled; but her sighs and tears were heart-rending. We begged her to hope for the best, and try to think differently; but she could not. She wished we could all die; and it was, at the time, impossible to cheer her by anything we could say or do. She was only about middle age, and her health had always been good; and she was, by nature, very cheerful.
I with the ladies who accompanied me remained about two weeks, when we concluded to take Katie and Lizzie (my daughter) with us and return home to Rochester, as mother thought the former to be the one followed mostly by the sounds; and we hoped, by separating the two children (Maggie and Katie), that we could put a stop to the disturbance.
We had not gone many miles on the canal, however, when we became aware that the rapping had accompanied us. Perfect consternation came upon us. I knew not what to do. We did not wish our friends to know that the rapping had followed us; and we remained, as much as possible, by ourselves.
When we went to the dinner-table with the other passengers, the Spirits became quite bold and rapped loudly; and occasionally one end of the table would jump up and nearly spill the water out of our glasses; but there was so much noise on the boat going through the locks and other disturbances, that only we, who recognized the special sounds, knew of them. We arrived at home about 5 P.M. I sat down to think over the occurrences of the day and of other days during my visit.
The two girls had gone into the garden. All at once came a dreadful sound, as if a pail of bonnyclabber had been poured from the ceiling and fallen upon the floor near the window. The sound was horrible enough, but, in addition, came the jarring of the windows and of the whole house, as if a heavy piece of artillery had been discharged in the immediate vicinity. I was so paralyzed by fear that I could not move, and sat stupefied; again came the same terrible sound, with all the jarring, as at first; and yet again it came; when I sprang from the sofa on which I had been seated and rushed out into the garden where the children were. They immediately cried out, “Why, what is the matter with you, Leah? how pale you look!” I made some evasive reply, as I did not wish to alarm them.
We went to bed at an early hour, being tired and much excited. The children had expressed great fear, and I went to bed with them. No sooner had I extinguished the light, than the children screamed, and Lizzie said she felt a cold hand passing over her face, and another over her shoulder down her back. She screamed fearfully, and I feared she would go into spasms. Katie was also much frightened. For my part I was equally terror-stricken. I arose from my bed and sought the Bible, from which I read a chapter. But while I was reading the girls felt some touches. I had never felt them; and I could not realize that they were not in some way mistaken.
It was now late in the night and all was silent. We thought we would try to sleep, as we were tired and excited. But the instant we extinguished our light the Bible flew from under my pillow—where I had placed it, supposing that the sacred volume would be respected. The box of matches was shaken in our faces, and such a variety of performances ensued that we gave up in despair to our fate, whatever it might be. We called on each other, if either was silent a few moments, that we might know that we were all alive. Finally, when the night was nearly spent, the disturbance ceased, and we fell asleep. We did not awake until very late in the morning. The sun shone brightly, and the birds sang sweetly in the trees of the public square. (Our residence then was on Mechanics’ Square.) The June roses were just out, and all nature was in her loveliest hues. We could not make the disturbances of the past night seem real to us. I doubted everything, but kept my own counsel; and as the shades of evening fell upon the scene, which had been a day of such brightness and beauty, I made up my mind that I would go on as usual and try to forget, as far as possible, the frightful occurrences of the previous night. In the evening my friend Jane Little and two or three other friends called in to spend an hour or so with us. We sang, and I played on the piano; but even then, while the lamp was burning brightly, I felt the deep throbbing of the dull accompaniment of the invisibles, keeping time to the music as I played; but I did not wish to have my visitors know it, and the Spirits seemed kind enough not to make themselves heard so that others would observe what was so apparent to me.